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Toyota boosting V6 production in Alabama, adding 125 jobs

Toyota's Huntsville, Alabama production facility, which makes the company's four-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines, is getting a couple of big boosts: $80 million and roughly 125 new jobs. When the spending and hiring is complete, the enlarged factory and the plant's 1,150 workers will raise engine-production capacity to more than 700,000 units, with V6 production more than doubled from 146,000 engines per year to 362,000.

Toyota's been spending and hiring all this year, with $645 million invested in growth and 1,100 jobs added to the rolls. "This V6 line addition," said a company EVP, "continues to reflect our growing optimism for an improving North American market." Toyota's press release is posted below.

ERLANGER, Ky. (May 17, 2012) -- Toyota announced today it will expand its Huntsville, Ala. engine facility to increase North American production of V6 engines. The approximately $80 million investment will bring total plant investment to more than $700 million. Approximately 125 new jobs will be created, increasing employment nearly 10 percent to 1,150.

The expansion will allow Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Inc. (TMMAL) to build an additional 216,000 engines each year, boosting total V6 annual capacity to 362,000. A new 300,000 sq. ft. building will be constructed. The increased production will begin in March 2014.

TMMAL currently assembles 4-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines for eight of 12 Toyota North American built vehicles. TMMAL is the only Toyota plant globally to produce these three types of engines in one facility.

This investment will increase engine production at the Huntsville plant to more than 700,000 annually, and will increase total Toyota engine production in the U.S. to more than 1.4 million per year. Toyota also builds engines in Kentucky and West Virginia.

"We are proud to announce our fourth expansion, only a few months after celebrating 10 years of success in Huntsville and Madison County," said Jim Bolte, President of TMMAL. "Today wouldn't be possible without continued commitment from our outstanding team members and support from our community partners."

"Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama has been a dedicated corporate citizen in Alabama for more than ten years, and today's announcement is an exciting new chapter for this company and this community. Toyota's success in Alabama is a testament to the hard-working men and women of the production and leadership teams who have dedicated themselves to producing quality products," said Governor Robert Bentley. "This expansion is also a testament to the business climate we've worked hard to create in Alabama – a climate in which companies are encouraged to expand, innovate, and create new jobs. We thank Toyota for the company's continued confidence in Alabama and Huntsville, and we look forward to a continued long-term relationship."

Today's announcement is the latest in a string of Toyota production increase announcements since February including Toyota plants in Indiana, West Virginia, Canada and Kentucky. Cumulative investment total is approximately $645 million and more than 1,100 jobs are being added.

"This V6 line addition continues to reflect our growing optimism for an improving North American market, and we continue to study more localization in North America," said Steve St. Angelo, Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

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Is there some particular model that they think is going to increase the demand for V6 engines? Like increased V6 Camry sales, for example? (Though that one seems unlikely since people are very concerned with gas mileage these days)

6's are good enough for light duty trucks; soccer moms, geezers & commuters can get along just fine with 4 cylinders; most of my antiques are less than 100hp, and that's enough power.
You don't need 150+ hp driving around in the city or highway, no matter what your driving.
On the other hand, I use my 8 cylinder cars like they should be used.

only in a certain setup. And highway isn't everything. The city rating of the charger is the same as my 08 v6 Highlander (18/24)...big suv vs sedan...yea dodge has a ways to go still lol
Camry v6 with speed tranny: 21/30
Dodge Charger v6 with 5 speed: 18/27
Dodge Charger v6 with 8 speed ($3000 price increase): 19/31
Yep dodge still needs some work.

Chrysler Pentastar has 283 HP and 260 ft/lbs of torque vs Toy's V6 268 HP and only 248 ft/lbs of torque. Winner, Mopar.
Penstastar is the most advanced mass production V6 in the car industry, a WARDS best engine winner 2 years ion row and a driving force behind today's Chrysler dominance of 4x4 suv's such as the world beating Grand Cherokees and Wranglers. The Pentastar also has kept Chrysler dominance of the minivan market beating back the JapanInc challenge. Next stop for the Pentastar is the RAM truck where it will lead Chrysler to industry leadership in pickup truck gas mileage.
Anybody that knows anything about cars, knows rear wheel has more durability than front wheel drive. One very good reason Mercedes and BMW won't give up on rear wheel is the durability factor. Durability of rear wheel drive American vehicles are extraordinary, Crown Vics, Town Cars, Tahoe's, pickup trucks, Cherokees, Grand Cherokee's, Wrangler's and many more. The vastly improved 300/Charger inherits this legacy and if you check out True Delta, the improved reliability of many new
Chrysler products is astonishing. Check out 2012 Grand Cherokee's score.

camry has a 6 speed tranny*
also more durable... HA since when is dodge considered reliable
2012 charger jd power reliability ratings
overall 3/5 powertrain 2/5
camry v6 jd power reliability ratings
overall 3.5/5 powertrain 3.5/5
and before anyone even thinks fanboy (even though it might be true lol), I'm only listing facts

oh and since when is a dodge considered durable... JD power rates reliability of 2012 charger as 3/5 while its power-train as 2/5 (durable my a** lol) v6 Camry reliability is 4/5 while its power-train is 3.5/5
also before anyone says fanboys... I'm must listing facts lol

The toyota V6 is one of the best naturally aspirated V6 engines on the market and have an exeptionally smooth nature and they sound pretty good, and more jobs for the area. Im all for it.
Especially in the times, when you hear everyone downsizing their engine

Toyota is smartly sticking with an old-fashioned reliable engine for the foreseeable future. I love the V6 in my Honda and I'm in no hurry at all to deal with another turbo 4. Like I've said in the past, Toyota and Honda have a reputation to stake on a car that will run for 10+ years on 87 gas with minimal maintenance.

Many of you may not remember that we tried using turbos before: many of the Chrysler K cars had 4 cylinder turbos approximately 1980-1985 (or later). The experiment was pretty unsuccessful, most of them died young. Americans probably were not ready in the 1980s for the high-intensity maintenance needed by those early turbos, and now the hardware is better and oil, especially synthetic, is MUCH better. I recall Saab owners did not have unusual turbo problems, but they were a different automotive demographic.

You act like turbo engines are new. They've been around a long time. They'll be fine. Then again, you mentioned 87 gas so it's obvious you know nothing about modern turbo engines since most of them are tuned to run on 87 and generally usually only use premium in more performance oriented applications.
New usually is better. But feel free to enjoy larger pushrod engines and VHS tapes. Old proven technology for sure.

In America, GM employees over 140k employees, Chrysler employees over 52k employees and Toyota only employees 36k employees. The GM and Chrysler numbers also include more engineering and white collar employees.

Where are you getting your 36k figures. Its the 4 year old stat that shows up in Google, wasn't it? Breaking news, a US based company with more brands than Toyota employs more people. Shocking.
Amazing how a story about jobs being added to the US economy can be turned into a negative by "buy American even though i don't understand what that really means because i dont actually understand economics or the auto industry" morons like yourself.

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Of course they have to invest in America. But how much investing is the question. Building facilities takes money and workers. You can't do it for free. Toyota is very good at putting Americans to work, but at what cost? A big chunk of the American workers at Toyota are young, part -time team members that work for a fraction of the pay and benefits of the few full-timers that are still working. Excellent strategy for a business, but again, at what cost?

> A big chunk of the American workers at Toyota are young, part -time team members that work for a fraction of the pay and benefits of the few full-timers that are still working.
American factory auto workers at any level are the highest paid in their field of any country. Compare wages to Mexico, Canada, Brazil, China, and so on, and you'll find that Toyota is making a significant investment. Far greater than what they could be doing.

My dad has this V6 in his 07 Camry. I would have thought they would need less V6s, as now, it is only offered in the SE and XLE Camry. The 07-11 Camry had offered the V6 a la carte in all trims. It's a fantastic engine, and probably one of the best engines Toyota has ever developed. MPG only slightly higher than the I-4, but with 100hp more. People who say Camrys r boring must have NOT driven the V6, cause the V6 pulls like a freight train !! I've seen 0-60mph in 5.9secs. I really doubt the I-4 turbos competitors now use get any better real-world mpg than this V6.

Watch out, his garbage CVT tranny is a force to be reckoned with at the drag strip battle of the family sedans!
Also, thanks for pointing out that boosting an already larger NA V6 engine with the same hp as the turbo 4 would offer more hp in the end. I don't think anyone knew that. With that kind of automotive knowledge it's amazing you're not employed in the industry.

In regards to the V6 in the Camry, I know we need to be concerned about mpg, but I remember when you could get almost any size engine 4, 6, or 8 cylinders in any car small or large (see Mecum Auto Auction on cable to see some older examples) I know it is not global warming politically correct, but I would love to have one more performance car with a V8. I don't find many cars very exciting in the looks department lately, though the new (Toyota) Scion FR S is sleek, but 4 cylinders and only 200 hp.
I thought I would like the new Dodge Dart, but I downloaded a photo of it and the old Dodge Neon, and the profile of the 2 cars is almost identical, should have kept the European body, not just the engine.